It is relatively well known and somewhat accepted on a global scale that automobiles which possess some form of lights illuminated during daytime operation provide a safer means of transportation than vehicles operating during the day with no lights at all. Hundreds of thousands of buses, both school and mass transit types, currently travel with their headlights on at all times to improve their vehicle's collision avoidance characteristics with respect to other vehicles, and thereby increasing vehicle occupant safety. Additionally, millions of people drive with their headlights on every day, choosing to do so as a defensive safety precaution. It is a matter of fact that the governments of seven nations have made it mandatory for some form of daytime running lights on automobiles to be continuously lit whenever the vehicle is in operation, either as lights dedicated to that function, or for the headlights of that vehicle itself to be activated during daytime vehicle operation. Numerous foreign studies spanning more than a quarter of a century have statistically proven either single digit or double-digit percentage improvements in the reduction of multi-vehicle daytime accidents through the use of some form of daytime running lights, even if this is as simple as mandatory legislated headlights being illuminated during the daytime. In addition, studies have also shown that when accident reports are analyzed specifically with respect to head-on, front corner, and especially left turn collisions occurring between vehicles during daytime hours, a reduction of accidents statistically occur in study groups of vehicles with daytime running lights over control groups of similar vehicles not equipped with such a collision avoidance feature. Moreover, in a comparison between rental car vehicles both having daytime running lights and not having daytime running lights, it has been shown that the costs of collision repairs for vehicles with such safety lighting are almost 70% lower than the collision repair bills of vehicles not having daytime running lights.
If it were presumed that these collisions were ‘unavoidable’, then such results indicate that daytime running lights aid drivers in the mechanism of observing emergency multi-vehicle situations sooner, and therefore reacting faster to such situations. Faster reaction on the other driver's part leads to less damage inflicted upon the daytime running light equipped vehicles by the other drivers actions, specifically applying their brakes sooner or turning away more quickly, and thereby lessening impact damage during such an unavoidable collision. These results point to the fact that this type of vehicular collision avoidance day lighting system, at a minimum, significantly reduces the severity of the impact of daytime multi-vehicle collisions, as gauged by the reductions of repair costs of vehicles equipped with the safety lighting devices when compared to vehicles without such devices.
The science and logic behind how daytime running lights help with collision avoidance is that having lights illuminated during daytime hours makes a vehicle much more conspicuous. The more conspicuous a vehicle is in effect reduces the chances of that same vehicle being involved in a daytime multi-vehicle accident. This is because the earlier a vehicle operator detects another vehicle on the road, and can estimate its speed and distance, the less likely that the first vehicle operator will be involved in a crash with that other second vehicle. This type of collision avoidance system further reduces the chances of being in a multi-vehicle accident at dusk, dawn, and on overcast days, with all of these being times when environmental visibility is low. Some sources estimate that just less than half of all multi-vehicle accidents occur because of perception and recognition errors. Therefore, the presence of daytime running lights on a vehicle improves daytime vehicle detection, with respect to how other vehicle operators visually notice such vehicle during driving. This same logic is why many states have mandated that a vehicle's headlights must be illuminated during rainy weather.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (“NHTSA”), a department of the U.S. Department of Transportation, wrote a battery of daytime running light (“DRL”) laws for U.S. roadways in 1993, but did not require daytime running light usage by law for cars sold in America. One event that helped spur such laws was that Canada began requiring daytime running lights as mandatory on all vehicles sold within its borders starting Dec. 1, 1989. NHTSA says any voluntary DRL systems integrated into vehicles by the auto manufacturers selling in the U.S. should follow the guidelines below: 1) any such system should switch “on” automatically when the vehicle cranks during daytime hours, and should switch “off” when the vehicle is turned off; 2) DRL's must switch off when the parking or headlights come on; 3) eligible bulbs on the front of a vehicle that are to be used as DRL's are a) headlights, b) directional/turn signal lamps, or c) lights dedicated to DRL usage only; 4) fog lights and parking lights are not permitted to be used as DRL's, as one is deemed too bright, causing glare; and the other is deemed to be too dim to be effective during bright daytime hours, respectively; 5) low beam headlights can be used for DRL at full output, or ‘as is’; 6) if high beam headlights are to be used as DRL's, they must have a decreased output equaling 80% of normal brightness or less, to reduce or limit glare; 7) since DRL's themselves are not mandatory, service centers and shops may add switches to factory DRL systems to turn them on or off, but may not modify such DRL's as to change their output with respect to brightness.
Vehicular lighting laws, some based on standards dating back to more than 30 years ago, also govern how turn signals and other vehicle lighting should function. Basically, in regular automobiles, turn signal bulb-out indication should occur to alert the vehicle operator via the dashboard indicator that a turn signal bulb has burned out. Such bulb-out indication is deemed as essential feedback to the vehicle operator, but is not required or practical on vehicles that tow trailers or other vehicles. Such turn signal bulb failure indication is typically accomplished by the turn signal/dashboard indicator system flashing faster than normal when the turn signal switch is activated; this ‘fast flashing’ mode registering on whichever side of the vehicle that such bulb failure has occurred. Other modes of bulb-out indication permissible are such as turn signals flashing not at all, with either a no flash—constant on, or no flash—constant off operation. Light coming from the front turn signals of a vehicle must be amber, but light emitted from front parking lights may be either white or amber. Additionally, output of turn signal lamps should be two and one half to three times that of parking lamps, to provide high contrast between both light sources at night.
Over the years various designs for DRL systems have utilized the automobile headlights almost exclusively. The present invention disclosed herein focuses on using the amber directional/turn signal lamps of a vehicle as the output device of the DRL system, in contrast to using white headlights. Advantages to such a directional lamp DRL system as described in the present invention, when compared to daytime headlight usage or headlight driven DRL systems, are: 1) Lower comparative energy consumption, 2) Lower comparative replacement bulb costs, 3) Higher environmental contrasting amber light DRL output when compared to white light output DRL systems, and 4) Resultant lower comparative lifetime vehicle emissions of pollutants via reduced relative fuel consumption.
Such white output headlight driven DRL systems waste energy when contrasted to such an invention of the present disclosure, as directional bulbs simply draw less current or amperage than headlight bulbs, yet still have a relatively high light output. Since headlights are high current devices singularly, or headlights plus external resistance both consume energy cumulatively, a reduction of the gas mileage of a vehicle to some degree is the net effect of daytime headlight operation and/or headlight driven DRL systems. From an engineering standpoint, energy is not free for such safety lighting, and does not come from the vehicle battery, as many people believe. The cost for any DRL energy is fuel, gasoline or diesel, spent by a 15 to 20% efficient engine that supplies shaft work via an alternator belt to a 25% efficient alternator. A lower electrical current consuming DRL device saves money over time when compared to it replacing a higher electrical current consuming headlight driven factory or aftermarket DRL system. Saved fuel dollars from a turn signal driven DRL system over a headlight driven DRL system also means lower overall carbon dioxide and other emissions entering into the atmosphere, incremental but significant when looking at a vehicle's 10 to 20 year lifecycle. Even more savings and lower emissions are incurred when the present invention is contrasted to driving with headlights on during the day.
Directional lamps in the front of a motor vehicle are required to be amber in output, when the vehicle is sold new to its first U.S. owner. A DRL system on a vehicle that uses these directional lamps is distinctly different in appearance than a vehicle that utilizes headlamps for the same effect. This visual difference between an amber high output DRL system and a white output DRL system is such that the more economical system offers a significant output advantage; white DRL's are sometimes not as visually noticeable during ‘white’ daytime hours, when contrasted with amber high intensity output DRL turn signal driven systems. Since a vehicle's daytime operating environment is a white daylight-flushed world, the present invention yields a distinctive high intensity amber DRL output from any vehicle's built in factory lighting arrangements that is more attention grabbing and noticeable than any equivalent white output DRL system operating on the headlights of an identical vehicle. The present invention adds DRL's to all vehicles with a brilliant and more distinct amber output, a color of light by which humans both notice and see very well. Additionally, amber light tends to seize human attention. It is a fact that most all of modern society has been conditioned throughout the 20th century to interpret amber or yellow lighting as ‘caution!’. Hence, this is part of the reason that amber lamps and lenses are employed in the front turn signal lighting systems of vehicles in general. Four way intersections are sometimes marked on the highway with flashing caution lights that are yellow, and traffic signals utilize a yellow caution staging period while turning from green to red. Flashing yellow also alerts automotive vehicle operators to roadway problems, construction activities, slow moving vehicles, roadway maintenance equipment, and vehicles on the roadside in need of repair.
This same system of the present invention also offers a ‘consumable’ part costs savings over headlight driven DRL or daytime headlight operation. Such a system of the present device employs bulbs, already built into the vehicle, which cost about ¼th to ⅕th as much as headlight bulbs, making such a system economical from a bulb replacement—vehicle maintenance viewpoint. For any DRL system, the bulbs cannot last forever, and any bulbs employed as such are therefore viewed as a consumable. These directional lamp bulbs are also comparatively robust, as these same exact type of bulbs are also employed as a vehicle's rear brake light bulbs, and are engaged in a much more heavy-duty service condition when utilized in that location.
The present invention is designed to be very flexible with respect to installation, by being both configurable and expandable. The current device can also be installed in such a manner to automatically switch off any factory headlight driven DRL system during this same device's activation and operation, leaving the factory system in waiting, as a backup system. The result is that the lower consumption system of the present invention will alternately power down the higher consumption factory-installed system when present invention is activated, offering incremental but real fuel savings by reducing overall holistic electrical DRL system consumption for the life of the vehicle.
It is interesting to note that fog lights are currently covered by individual state laws, while automotive headlights, turn signals, brake lights and parking lights are covered by U.S. law. The present invention harnesses and controls the previously mentioned turn signal lamps, and can potentially allow these to be used as auxiliary fog lamps during times of reduced visibility such as fog, rain, snow, or during off-road conditions. This could prove to be highly advantageous to vehicle operators in dangerous weather conditions, provided that vehicle operators have sufficient control over such lighting to keep such auxiliary fog lighting from causing glare and visibility problems for other drivers during high visibility times, and provided that these applications conform to individual state laws. An exception to the rule is when such lighting is utilized during vehicle off-road use situations, where no legal requirements exist.
Also, there is concern in the automotive world that motorcycles are at an ever-increasing disadvantage on the roadway, as more and more automobiles gain ‘white light output’ headlight-driven DRL systems. Motorcycles, which have been equipped with headlight driven DRL's for years, no longer distinctly stand out in traffic as they once did. Two applications of the present invention with respect to motorcycles are shown, helping to increase the safety of such two wheel vehicles making them more visible to other drivers on the roadway in driving or stopping situations.
A low current consuming, high intensity amber output directional lamp DRL system with universal installation applications and no vehicle age limits, ranging from existing semi-tractor trailers, buses, and fleet vehicles, to personal and recreational-use private vehicles, could be highly beneficial to automotive safety in general. Additional advantages might be realized in terms of fleet liability and insurance coverage with respect to medium and large corporations, should same corporate fleets be equipped with the present invention. And finally, a system incorporating a vehicle's own internal bulb-outage indication systems, to monitor bulb ‘burn out’ with respect to turn signal bulbs themselves, is highly beneficial. Since the present invention uses the vehicle's internal bulb-out safety system to monitor the turn signal/new DRL bulbs for ‘burn out’, the bottom line effect is that the overall safety of the system as a whole is increased.